Module 8

Well, almost there guys!!
Videos this week were clear and simple! - just what we want at this time of the year!! I don't buy a newspaper and I haven't taught upper primary for years and in the "old days" I remember "BEHIND THE NEWS!  A great programme!! By joining RSS feed ( Really Simple Sydication) you have the news coming to you in headline format. I have added the connections and now have New.com, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and have found and added a recipe website (personal use) and feel that I can go beyond!!! It is good to look at the other websites chosen by others and have included them in my findings!! It is also good to know the number of interested parties as such!! Roll on module 9! All good and informative!

Module 7

Delicious what a great name for a user friendly website tool for busy teachers. I first heard of this site from a student teacher. We were sharing information, experiences and swapping websites all in aid of the children we teach. I like the idea that it is website for teachers and it also gives you an idea of how popular various bookmarks are. It is time saving and can become a valuable library for teachers without the weight of books and paper. How often do you find a great website at home and lose the paper or can't find the "great website" again. Now, by joining Delicious (free) we can all participate in the professionalism and good judgement of our fellow teachers. The "tags" are a good way of catorgising all our valuable information for storage - a filing cabinet in fact. I intend to tag mine by subject/grade - in case I move classes. Another advantage of Delicious is that when you move schools all the wonderful resources you have sourced are with you. I recommend this Website tool for all. I certainly will share this with everyone. We, teachers need to do this so that we don't all have to "re-invent the wheel". So much to do, so little time!!

Module 6

Flickr - what a great tool to use both personally and in the classroom. Photos can be stored, uploaded and organised into sets, themes, etc. During class activities, most teachers take photos of excursions, themed work and school events. What to do with them? Now photos can be stored via Flickr and be used within a safe environment. Photos can be shared by friends/family marked and documented.

Children need to be aware that anything we obtain from the internet does not belong to them. They can access safe CC - creative commons material and be confident that images are AOK. Google images also have the same options tick and option to obtain copyright friendly material.

Through this course I have learnt so much about copyright and its' importance and the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that children are completely aware of the ramifications of misuse. My knowledge is far from perfect, but now I am heading in the right direction. I would happily display the Copyright - general Overview page in which list of items are itemised, eg., artistic, literary, musical, dramatic works with films, sound recordings, broadcast and published editions being mentioned.

Now that I have signed in to Flickr I can experiment and play so more. Images already catologued will be beneficial to me. Wish I had seen the NASA collection when doing our Space unit last term. Never mind always the way. Must jot this down in my programme for next year. Christmas presents and photo gallery later I'll be the real professional. Roll on next module. Enjoyed this one.                                                                

Do you like the gallery of  "Scenery Photos" taken from Flickr. I know I can legally copy these - how great it that. Could even use these great shots for a creation lesson.

Still need to work out how to place them without them bouncing around.

I initially had them placed horizontally.

Module 5

Well, what a big unit of work this time. Gone are the days of the butcher's paper, whiteboard covered with a huge array of ideas provided by the children with teacher direction, of course. Bubble.us - way to go to with the techno mind mapping tool to record and organise ideas on any curriculum area. Bubble.us would be an asset to the visual learners in the classroom. An idea for pre and post testing. It is engaging and helps process thoughts and lay out  ideas. A great NEW TOOL for me to use in the classroom at any grade and level.

Glogster was a little more difficult for me with my limited knowledge. The signing in was tiresome but worth it in the end. I am running out of ideas for passwords, etc. Have to record the whole lot. If I lose it I'm lost!! I can certainly see the benefits of this powerful and attractive tool. To me, it is like having the whole program on one page. A colourful poster with style, text, information, video links, sound and responses. Glogster is a great tool to allow children to work together on units of work to enhance learning by allowing them to be creative, encouraging skills and at the same time allowing individuality and co-operative learning. The teacher can evaluate at a glance to see the development of skills and knowledge of the individual child.

Prezi had the advantage of zooming in and out and I can see it being used in my text type writing where language features need to be emphasised. The children can consolidate their learning by adding graphics. Great tool for class presentation.

A must do for me is to continue my experimenting with Prezi and Glogster as I can really see its valuable use in the classroom. A dream of mine is to have 30 fully functional computers so that I can use the tools suggested by the Web 2:0